Posted in: Review, Sky One, TV | Tagged: matt smith, nick cave, The Death of Bunny Muro

The Death of Bunny Munro Review: Sad Dark Comedy Showcases Matt Smith

Sky's adaptation of The Death of Bunny Munro is an impactful one that subverts Nick Cave's novel through Matt Smith's charisma and sadness.

Published Mon, 24 Nov 2025 05:37:03 -0600

by Adi Tantimedh

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Article Summary

Matt Smith delivers a standout performance as sleazy, tragic Bunny Munro in Sky's dark comedy adaptation.
Nick Cave's cult novel becomes a hallucinatory, Lynchian TV series mixing dark humor and apocalyptic dread.
Bunny Munro explores toxic masculinity, addiction, trauma, and the struggle for redemption and forgiveness.
Brilliant use of surreal visuals and biblical themes creates one of the most unique UK series of 2025.

There's one reason The Death of Bunny Munro exists and one reason to watch it: Matt Smith. Without him, the story might be unbearable. Nick Cave's cult novel tells the story of a sex addicted salesman who drags his son along on an odyssey across the South of England, ostensibly to sell makeup, hook up with women, but really hurtling towards a reckoning as his sense of reality unravels. It's a trippy and achingly sad series that's utterly unique, but then the book was always unique, and there's no way a conventional TV show could possibly be made from it; it's subverted by the presence of Smith as its center.

The Death of Bunny Munro: Matt Smith's Showcase of Sad Dark Comedy — Image: Sky TV

The entire series is a virtual catalogue of trigger warnings for the overly sensitive. Bunny Munro is a terrible man. Narcissistic and only interested in his next shag, he's thrown into a tailspin when his depressed and neglected wife commits suicide. He crawls deeper into his sex addiction to escape the spiral of grief and guilt, and when social services threaten to take his 9-year-old son (Rafael Mathé) into care, he grabs the kid and goes on the run. Bunny has zero idea how to be a father and barely does the minimum to keep him safe and fed. Bunny Jr. is precocious and brainy, but can't help but look up to his sleazy void of a father. Bunny is running away from his grief but hurtling towards his doom.

There's an air of apocalyptic doom with the burning of Brighton Pier in the background and news of a serial killer heading towards Brighton, where Bunny is. It's a trippy, hallucinatory story that becomes increasingly Lynchian as it unfolds. Bunny's sense of reality is melting as the women he wronged, including the ghost of his wife, keep intruding on his thoughts, and no amount of sexual encounters will make them go away. Bunny Murno is a portrait of toxic masculinity shaped by childhood abuse and trauma. It's all darkly funny until it stops being funny – the jokes run out, and Bunny is left to face himself at the end, as he tries to find redemption in an act of sacrifice to save his son from becoming him.

Nick Cave has a unique take on biblical themes and imagery, and that's on full display in the series, transformed into bright, surreal visuals that resemble a previously undiscovered corner of David Lynch's universe or even Alan Moore's The Show. The closest thing The Death of Bunny Munro has in common with is the Abel Ferrara movie Bad Lieutenant, also about a doomed addict who does terrible things, who's really desperate for redemption. If you've read the novel, you would picture Bunny Munro as a schlubby, predatory sleazebag. Matt Smith subverts the character as Smith's charisma and sexiness undercuts his predatory vibe – women are attracted to him, and are understandably more willing to shag him. Smith also makes Bunny a weirdly sympathetic figure. His air of mischief and core of sadness make you want to forgive him as much as he desperately wants to be forgiven – the more terrible things he does, the more you want to forgive him. Bunny's final reckoning feels like a trip to the Lodge in Twin Peaks or the gentlemen's club in Jimmy's End from Alan Moore's underworld. The result is surreal, eerie, and moving, one of the best series of 2025.

The Death of Bunny Munro is now on Sky in the UK. No US streamer has picked it up yet.

The Death of Bunny Munro

Review by Adi Tantimedh

9/10

Sky's adaptation of dark comedy cult novel, once thought unadaptable for its sleazy protagonist, not only puts that idea to rest but also subverts Nick Cave's work in an effective way. Matt Smith brings charisma and an air of sadness to the role, making this one of the darkest, strangest ,and most moving shows of 2025.

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